The nice thing about space dilemmas is that they tend to have limited options.

Option 1: Schlock escapes; Riff gets left behind. That looks like the most likely and straightforward one given the circumstances.

Option 2: Riff escapes; Schlock gets left behind. Riff springs a surprise trap and pulls the ol' switcheroo. Less likely but still probable.

Option 3: Neither escape. Riff springs a surprise trap and it basically dooms them. More likely than 2, and the ensuing struggle to fail reaching the escape pod makes it dramatic enough to be nearly even with 1.

Option 4: Both escape. Either Schlock has a bizarre change of heart or Riff lunges onboard at the last minute. I'd recommend everyone holds their breath in this situation. I don't have a probability for this, since its much lower likelihood threatens to make it more likely when you include narrative twists into the equation.

Additionally, the fate of the ship has options:

Fate 1: it survives. Low, but Thom Solo gave a scenario earlier in the thread that justifies it

Fate 2: it gets blasted by Dire-REA. Ew. But extremely likely.

If both escape, Fate 2 is effectively guaranteed, since it's moot. If neither escape, Fate 1 is effectively guaranteed, since only a fool would kill off both characters. If Riff escapes, Fate 1 is slightly higher. If Schlock escapes, Fate 2 is slightly higher. (the thinking here is Riff's fatalism makes him more likely to be killed off, whereas Schlock as the Big Bad is more likely to not die till the climax)

This means the highest probability outcome is that Riff gets left behind and dies. Pretty bad. Luckily, that's not the only information in today's comic. We also learn that even though rebooting will get the station under control, it's still not enough to prevent at least one city from getting DFA'd. And the dude simply cannot abide LA getting literally wiped off the map. If this is to be stopped, they NEED to get the space pirates out there to reroute that Dire-REA toward the repairing DFA (again: ew). That alters the whole equation, since it wipes out Fate 2.

That means the next highest probability wins out: neither escape, and they survive. Which is still kind of a weird outcome, but I'm sticking with it. My first mistake, of course, will be trying to apply logic to Sluggy.

So Schlock escaped, but I'm thinking not for long. Certainly Riff will emp the self-destruct. I'm not really worried (though I'm worried I should be worried). But how far is the range? Will he be drifting then? Will the emp reach Schlock? Will it reach the station?

Ok, I don't worry that Riff will die, but I do worry about how he will survive.

I was thinking along those lines too. Space is 3-D. In that last panel... how do we know the missiles aren't heading past Riff's ship and toward Schlock's? Wishful thinking, maybe.

I hadn't thought about that, but I think it's possible...maybe they have some tracker that was on the DireREA that didn't go out with the communication system. Looking at the last panel again, it seems possible that they could be heading toward Schlock.

My hopeful spec: the self-destruct button is actually/also a homing beacon that the missiles were locked onto, and the EMP broke that lock. So the missiles will miss Riff.

Alternately, the button/beacon is actually telling the AI where Schock (supposedly) is, so that it will target any OTHER ship in the vicinity. So the missiles were actually targeting the pod, not the ship.

My hopeful spec: the self-destruct button is actually/also a homing beacon that the missiles were locked onto, and the EMP broke that lock. So the missiles will miss Riff.

Alternately, the button/beacon is actually telling the AI where Schock (supposedly) is, so that it will target any OTHER ship in the vicinity. So the missiles were actually targeting the pod, not the ship.

I think it more likely that the A.I.'s last known position for Schlock is where he was actually talking to it from and giving it the pass-phrases.

I suspect that it set the Dire-REA to target the ship with an automatic countdown timer for launch that simply launched the missiles in the absence of further instructions to the contrary after the loss of comms.

The question is whether the missiles are actively quided or fire and forget. If comms are re-established in the next second or so and Schlock contacts the A.I. it may well re-target his present location instead of the original ship.

The other thing is, we've had evidence that the Dire-REA's weapons system is not exactly 100% reliable. It only damaged the Musky 5, instead of destroying it. If Riff can find an inflatable space-suit or emergency bubble that still works, he may have an out. (I think it's likely there would be something of the sort on any emergency escape ship built by Schlock.)

ramoss wrote:

Thom Solo wrote:

My hopeful spec: the self-destruct button is actually/also a homing beacon that the missiles were locked onto, and the EMP broke that lock. So the missiles will miss Riff.

Alternately, the button/beacon is actually telling the AI where Schock (supposedly) is, so that it will target any OTHER ship in the vicinity. So the missiles were actually targeting the pod, not the ship.

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